Ming History - Chinese History (13)

Author: Fu Yiling
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features: The Ming Dynasty was the last dynasty established by the Han landlord class and also a significant turning point in the course of Chinese historical development. It spanned a full 300 years from the mid-14th century to the mid-17th century. On one hand, it pushed autocratic centralist bureaucratic politics to a new height, with social and economic development surpassing the highest level of the Song and Yuan dynasties whileing the impetus for the transition between the old and the new. On the other hand, as the Ming Dynasty went from prosperity to decline, signs of collapse were evident in all aspects of social life, marking the late development stage of China's feudal society, which had endured for thousands of years. This book takes the evolution of political history as its basic thread, aiming to combine the characteristics of social and economic history, while focusing on elaborating on socioeconomic, military, cultural, folk customs, and Sino-foreign relations, in order to reveal the patterns of social change and present the overall of society at the time. In the writing of this book, the author has made every effort to absorb and integrate the achievements of Ming Dynasty studies from both Chinese and international academia. The author strives to systematize his lifelong insights into Ming history and weave them into a dynamic historical narrative.